Earlier this week, MercedesLewis Hamilton spoke out against the proposed street circuit layout associated with a potential Miami Grand Prix, questioning why drivers are never queried on track designs. Despite all the talk of updates, as usual the ultimate performance seems to come down to who can get the tricky Pirelli tyres to work best for them.

Mercedes only struggled after that, being outrun by Ferrari in Bahrain, China and Azerbaijan, where Hamilton won for the first time this season after his closest competitors ran into trouble in front of him.

After a breathless and competitive season of Formula One, this weekend's action from the Spanish Grand Prix felt like a rerun. There are arguments for both sides, of course, but in principle we would all like to see more overtaking.

While Ferrari faltered, with four-time former champion Sebastian Vettel finishing fourth and Kimi Raikkonen retiring with power problems, Hamilton did not put a wheel wrong on his way to confidence-boosting victory. Valtteri Bottas delivered probably his best qualifying lap of the season there in 2017. The Finn, however, has responded strongly to that reproval. Behind them, carnage ensued at Turn 3, with Grosjean, Gasly and Hulkenberg all being involved in a collision that brought out the safety vehicle. Rookie sensation Charles LeClerc earned his second points finish of the season in 10th place, behind Sergio Perez's Force India.

Nine stars from the current Formula 1 grid will drive in this week's two-day post-race session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with nine teams also devoting time to test drivers - Mercedes are the exception, having chose to use their 2018 race line-up.

Mercedes have offered an explanation for the delay in signing a fresh contract with Lewis Hamilton by saying both parties wanted to focus on improving the Formula One team's vehicle. We have been here before.

Verstappen and Vettel were 27 seconds off the lead, Ricciardo was a full 50 seconds behind in a vehicle which looked to be the race pace-setter on Friday.

But Wolff has explained the reason for the delay, citing everyone was in agreement to focus on improving the vehicle before getting down to finalising the 33-year-old's future. He has zero points in 2018. The top American entry had Kevin Magnussen and his Gene Haas Ferrari lining up at seventh. Grosjean can forget Ferrari.